Reversing transmission for cross lappers



Sept. 8, 1959 Filed Dec. 14, 1956 J. w. POWISCI-IIILL r AL 2,902,888

REVERSING TRANSMISSION FOR CROSS LAPPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORSI JOHN W- POWISCHILL EDWARD M- HYDE Sept. 8, 1959 J. w. POWISCHILL ETAL 2,902,883

REVERSING TRANSMISSION FOR CROSS LAPPERS Filed Dec. 14, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fl E15.

v INVENTORS.

\ JOHN w. POWISCHILL EDWARD M. HYDE WzrW' ATTYS.

Unitcd States Patent 15 REVERSING TRANSMISSION FOR CROSS LAPPERS John W. Powischill, Cheltenham, and Edward M. Hyde, Lafayette Hill, Pa., assignors to Proctor 8: Schwartz, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 14, 1956, Serial No. 628,326

2 Claims. (Cl. 74-761) The present invention relates to a transmission for textile web-lapping machines, and more particularly for cross-lapping machines for forming multi-layered batts of infinite length.

The invention has particular application to cross lappers which comprise an inclined apron conveyor which receives the webs from the doffers of a Garnett machine and conveys them upwardly, onto an intermediate conveyor which in turn deposits the webs into the bight of a pair of downwardly traveling apposed apron conveyors which are pivotally mounted on a carriage which travels back and forth in a predeterminedpath transversely to a moving floor apron. As the apposite apron conveyors traverse across the moving floor. apron, the webs are deposited on the moving floor apron in zigzag runs to form a batt having a thickness dependent on the difference" in surface speeds between the apron conveyors and the'moving floor apron.

Inthe' conventional crosslapper, the carriage'is reciprocated' by a belt-driven reversing mechanism having a belt shifter actuated by the movement of the carriage. The belt shifter when actuated, shifts the drive from a cross belt drive to a straight belt drive, thereby reversing the? direction of travel of the carriage. This form of reversing mechanism is not entirely satisfactory since the belts have a tendency to stretch and slip. The slippage, since it is not uniform, causes thecarriage to over- .run at the time of reversal and produce uneven selvedges Other reversing mechanisms have been tried in whichthe drive for the carriage is reversed by a gradual reduc tion. in speed in one! direction followed by a gradual in-- crease in speed in the other direction. This is not satisfactory'because of the non-uniformity occasioned by the variation in speed of the carriage adjacent the sides of the batt.

With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved reversing mechanism for a cross lapper which produces a quick positive reversal of the carriage of. the cross lapper with a minimum of overrun and without the higher inertia of the conventional apparatus during reversal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide areversing mechanism which afiords constant lubrication of the operating parts and which is therefore of high durability.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a reversing mechanism which has a positive action, but isof simple and rugged construction and is operable or Ce 2,902,888

to produce batts ranging in width from 24 inches to 108' inches wherein the number of reversals per minute range from 42.5 to 9.45, assuming a carriage speed of feet per minute.

All of the objects of the invention and the various. features and details of the construction and operation; thereof are more fully set forth hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in end elevation of a cross lapper to.

which the present invention is applied;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal transverse section of a cross lapper embodying a reversing mechanism made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the cross lapper shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse view in section through the reversing mechanism;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6--6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail showing the operation of the connections between the lapper and the reversing mechanism.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Fig. 1 thereof, the cross lapper of the present invention comprises apposed apron conveyors 11, 11 which convey a web W from the doiier upwardly and deposit the same on an intermediate conveyor 12. From the intermediate conveyor, the web W is fed between the bight of a pair of apposed downwardly traveling conveyor aprons 13, 13 which are pivotally mounted at their lower end on a carriage 14 which travels back and forth over a moving floor apron 15' to form a batt B. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the carriage 14 travels on guide rails 16 and 17 overlying a track 18. The carriage 14 is advanced by an endless chain 21 at each side thereof, and secured to the. carriage as indicated at 22. The chains 21, 21 are trained over drive sprockets 23, 23 and idler sprockets 24, 24. Slack in the chains is taken up by idler sprockets 25, 25 adjustably mounted on the track 18 as indicated at 26. The sprockets 23, 23 at the opposite sides of the cross lapper are driven in synchronism by a shaft 27 connected to the output of a reversing mechanism 28 as indicated at 29. The reversing mechanism 28, in turn, is driven by a drive pulley 31.

In accordance with the invention, the reversing mechanism 28 comprises a planetary transmission having an input shaft 32 and an output shaft 33. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6, a sun gear 34 is keyed to the shaft 32. The sun gear M is meshed with a set of planetary idler gears 35, 35 and 35 rotatably mounted on a planetary gear carrier 36. The gear carrier 36 also mounts elongated outer planetary gears 57, 37' and 37 which are meshed at one end with the planetary idler gears 35. The outer planetary gears 37 are supported at their other end by a mounting ring 38 (see Fig. 5). The outer planetary gears 37 also mesh at the one end with the internal teeth of a ring gear 39 rotatably mounted on the shaft 33 and within the casing 41 as indicated at 42. At the other end, the outer planetary gears 37 mesh with the external teeth of a second sun gear 43 rotatably mounted in the casing 41 as indicated at 44. The casing 41 is sealed to contain a suitable lubricant insuring proper operation of the transmission with a minimum of wear.

Means is provided to alternately lock the gears 39 and 43 against rotation. When the gear 39 is locked against rotation and the gear 43 is free to rotate, the sun gear 34, driving the outer planetary gears 37 in the same direction as its direction of rotation, causes the planetary gear carrier 36 to travel in the opposite direction. For

Patented Sept. 8, 1959- example, if the shaft 32 is rotating counterclockwise, the planetary gear carrier 36 rotates clockwise which in turn eifects clockwise rotation of the shaft 33 by reason of the rigid connection between the gear carrier 36 and the shaft 33. On the other hand, when the ring gear 39 is free to rotate and the second sun gear 43 is held against rotation, rotation of the sun gear 34 causes the planetary gear carrier 36 to travel in a similar direction. Thus, when the shaft 32 rotates counterclockwise, driving the outer planetary gears counterclockwise, the fixed second sun gear 43 causes the planetary gear carrier 36 to rotate counterclockwise thereby driving the shaft 33 counterclockwise. Thus, to reverse the rotation of the shaft 33, the ring gear 36 is released for travel and the second sun gear 43 is locked against rotation, and vice versa, a second reversal is obtained by locking the ring gear 39 against rotation and freeing the second sun gear 43 for rotation.

. In accordance with the invention, means is provided to alternatively brake or lock the ring gear 39 and the second sun gear 43 against rotation. To this end, the ring gear 39 is provided with a brake drum 49 having a brake band 50 cooperable therewith. Likewise, the second sun gear 43 is provided with a brake drum 53 and a cooperating brake band 54. The brake band 50 is actuated by a brake band lever 55 and the brake band 54 is actuated by a brake band lever 56. The levers 55 and 56 are rigidly mounted on a rock shaft 57 having a crank 58 fixedly mounted thereon. A control lever 59 is rotatably mounted on the rock shaft 57 and pivotally mounts at its upper extremity a slide collar 61 engaged on a shifter rod 62 controlled by the cross lapper carriage 14. To this end, the cross lapper carriage 14 is provided with an upwardly extending yoke 63 slidablyengaging the shifter rod 62. The shifter rod has stop collars 66, 66 engageable with the frame as .indicated at 67, stop collars 68, 6S engageable with the yoke 63, and end nuts 70, 7% engaging the slide collar 61.

In the operation of the device, with reference to Fig. 3, as the carriage 14 travels to the left, it engages against the left-hand collar 68 advancing it and the rod 62 to the left, causing the control lever 59 to rock counterclockwise on the shaft 57. A spring 73 interconnects the lever 59 with the crank 58 by connections shown at 74 and 75 respectively. As the lever 59 is rocked counterclockwise (see Fig. 7), the spring 73 exerts increasing bias on the crank 58, tending to maintain the latter in its full counterclockwise position, thereby applying the brake band 54 against the brake drum 53 and locking the second sun gear 43 against rotation. As the lever 59 assumes a center position at 180 from the crank 57, the spring 73 passes from the right of the shaft 57 to the left of the shaft, thereby applying the bias of the spring to rock the crank 58 clockwise and release the brake band 54 and apply the brake band 50. Further over-center rocking of the lever 59 is assisted by the bias of the spring 73 but is prevented by the engagement of the stop collar 66 with the frame at 67. The slide rod 62 is therefore at its left hand limit position and the planetary transmission is driving the shaft 27 in the reverse direction to cause the carriage 14 to travel to the right.

At the end of its rightward travel, the carriage yoke 63 engages the right hand stop 68 displacing it to the right and thereby displacing the control lever to the right. As in the previous instance, rightward travel of the lever 59 increases the bias urging the rock shaft to its clockwise limit position until the lever 59 passes beyond the center 180 distance from the crank 58. At this point, the spring exerts a bias tending to displace the crank counterclockwise to the position shown in full lines in Figs. 6 and 7, thereby applying the brake band 54 to the drum 53 of the second sun gear 43 and releasing the brake band 50 from engagement with the drum 49 of the ring gear 39. This reverses the rotation of the output shaft 33 of the planetary transmission 28 and thereby reverses the travel of the carriage 14.

The present construction of the reversing mechanism insures a quick and positive action at the desired time. At the end of the travel of the carriage, the force on the brake band increases until the lever 59 passes over-center. At this point, the crank 58 is quickly shifted to effect a rapid reversal in the transmission 28.

It is noted that the pulley 31 is preferably driven from a pulley on the main cylinder shaft of the Garnett machine through a jack shaft in order to synchronize the cross lapper carriage speed with the peripheral speed of the doffers delivering the web to the inclined aprons 11, 11 of the lapper.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been herein illustrated and described, it is not intended to limit the invention to such a disclosure and changes and modifications may be made therein and thereto within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. In a cross-lapping machine for a moving floor apron, the combination of an upright conveyor carried by a carriage mounted for reciprocating movement across said apron between opposite limit positions, an elongated shift rod paralleling the path of movement of said carriage, yoke means on said carriage engaging said shift rod to displace the same axially between first and second limit positions upon displacement of said carriage to its respective limit positions, drive mechanism for said carriage comprising a carriage drive shaft, a reversing mechanism driving said shaft comprising a planetary transmission having a driven sun gear, a planetary gear carrier connected to said carriage drive shaft, in-

ner planetary gears on said carrier meshed with said sun gear, axially elongated outer planetary gears on said carrier meshed with said inner gears and extending axially beyond said inner gears, a ring gear surrounding said outer planetary gear and having internal teeth meshed with said outer gears, a brake drum on said ring gear, a ring brake band cooperable with said ring brake drum and actuatable to hold the same against rotation and effect rotation of said carriage drive shaft in one direction to displace the carriage toward its first limit.

position, an auxiliary sun gear mounted within said outer planetary gears and having external teeth meshed with said outer gears, a brake drum on said sun gear, a sun brake band cooperable with said sun brake drum and actuatable to hold the same against rotation and effect rotation of said carriage drive shaft in the opposite direction to displace the carriage toward its second limit position, a rock shaft in said transmission, and means on said rock shaft to alternatively actuate said ring and sun brake bands upon rocking of said shaft between op posite limit positions, a crank keyed to said rock shaft,

and means connecting said crank to said shift rod and operable to rock said rock shaft between its limit positions to actuate said ring brake band and release said sun brake band upon displacement of said shift rod to its first limit position and to release said ring brake band and actuate said sun brake band upon displacement of said shift rod to its second limit position, to thereby auto matically reverse the direction of movement of said carriage at each limit of its movement across said apron upon continuous unidirectional rotation of said driven point removed from said crank, to bias said crank 5 6 in the reverse direction to displace said rock shaft to its 2,211,221 Wilkerson Aug. 13, 1940 opposite limit position. ,360,869 Gilbert et a1 Oct. 24, 1944 2,673,475 Ebsworth Mar. 30, 1954 References Cited in the file of this patent 2,713,273 Ebsworth July '19, 1955 UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 FOREIGN PATENTS 593,652 Hardingham Nov. 16, 1897 584,894 France Nov. 29, 1954 1,540,247 Bowman June 2, 1925 

